Monday, February 20, 2012

Civilisation, not tolerance, is what Kenyans need

By LUKOYE ATWOLI
Sunday Nation 19 February 2012

As we enter the campaign season with its enhanced
risks of violence and disorder, it has become common to hear politicians
and other opinion shapers asking Kenyans to exercise tolerance. We have been asked to be tolerant of opposing religious or political opinions and, significantly, of other tribes as well.

Though well-meaning, it is doubtful that those asking for tolerance have really examined the real meaning of the word. According
to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, one of the meanings of this word is
“the act of allowing something”. Others include “the capacity to endure
pain or hardship”, and “sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices
differing from or conflicting with one’s own”.

Unpleasant situation

In
other words, that which is tolerated is often unpleasant or
objectionable, and the tolerant individual endures the situation for
only as long as is necessary. When the opportunity presents itself
to eliminate the unpleasant situation, tolerance is no longer
necessary, and the situation is changed accordingly.

Hence, for
instance, many Kenyans only tolerate their politicians, and at every
General Election, they get rid of roughly two-thirds of them,
unfortunately in exchange for yet another bunch to be tolerated for
another five years.

Tolerate minorities

Exhorting
Kenyans to tolerate each other is akin to asking them to pretend to
love one another, and allow the unpleasant “other” to exist only as long
as the opportunity has not presented itself to eliminate them. We are urged to tolerate minorities, as if they are not Kenyan, and exist only because we allow them to.

We
are asked to tolerate people who believe in different gods as if we
have the power or authority to stop them when we feel that they have had
this freedom for too long. We are implored to tolerate members of other
ethnic communities as if we have more claim to the land than they do.

It is my contention that what we need in Kenya is not more tolerance, but a healthy dose of civilisation.
Currently,
we are behaving like beasts right out of the Stone Age. As demonstrated
by the events of early 2008, most of us are in fact wild animals
constantly straining at the leash of law and order, waiting for an
opportune moment to break free and indulge in our debauched fantasies.

The current violent disagreements over electoral boundaries clearly illustrate this point. One
tribe has even gone to court asking for its own constituency, oblivious
of the fact that it will not be possible to restrain members of that
tribe from registering and voting in other constituencies.

Further,
it is not clear what will happen to members of other tribes living in
that constituency. Will they be denied the right to vote and vie for
political posts? Finally, will they ask for more constituencies in
future when the tribal population increases?

County politics

The division of county political posts along tribal lines in the spirit of tolerance further demonstrates this problem. Obviously, then, tribe has this uncanny ability to bring out the uncivilised beast in us.

If
we had even an iota of civilisation in us, we would recognise that none
of us has any perpetual claim on the land we call “ancestral”, given
that all our ancestors migrated in and out of this region in the past.

Depending on how far back one goes, we are all “foreigners”.

Dr
Lukoye Atwoli is the secretary, Kenya Psychiatric Association and
lecturer at Moi University’s School of Medicine www.lukoyeatwoli.com